Dec 30, 2011

This is a picture of one of Bonnie's barstools and Jordan's desk that I had started awhile back.

I did get them all painted right before Thanksgiving, but I sent them home before I got some pictures of them.

Well I did get some pictures of Bonnie's barstools. They were a lot of fun to paint. They started out as plain black stools. I sanded them down a little and applied a gold crackle paint over the legs. Bonnie likes a very primitive look, so I distressed them a little more and then antiqued them with a wood stain.

And next was the tops.
I haven't done any decorative painting for awhile. I guess I just got a little tired of it and started sewing instead. I seem to do that a lot...go in spurts with one craft then another. But while I was painting these stools I realized that I really miss painting.
Anyways... I think you might like to see the tops, right?
Bonnie likes roosters and her kitchen was just redone with reds and gold colors. You might remember the cupboards that we redid in an antique red.
OK OK here are the tops of the stools.

Bonnie and my son, Tom loved them. I had to explain to Tom that I put a couple of coats of clear on them to help keep them from scratching. He wasn't going to let anyone sit on them. LOL

My daughter Tammi and I have redone Kelly's room too. We decided to start at the top of the house and work our way down with some very much needed updating of my home. There should be plenty of pictures to come.

My goal this year is to get some projects finished that I've started. It looks like another busy year again for me.

Nov 30, 2011

I'm beginning to sound like an old broken record. I have been lurking around and once in awhile you might have noticed that I've commented on some of your blogs, but I sure have neglected my blog this time. Anyways....
Today was the first day that we've all had school and work closings. Not because of the first snow that we got, but mostly because it started out as rain yesterday and that made frozen, slick roads this morning. I guess that means that ole man winter has finally arrived. Yuck! You would have thought that I could've gotten some things done around the house. But that didn't happen. I spent a lot of time picking up wet gloves and hats from the grandkids. It seems that the wet snow is packing really well and they keep going back outside to build a snow fort. I did get some peanut butter cookies made to go with the hot cocoa they enjoyed.
I really have been quite busy these last couple of months. My daughter and I have remodeled Kelly's bedroom and the upstairs landing. I'll post about that soon. And I've gotten some things painted. I need to get some pictures taken and then I can tell you more about it all. So until then...
Stay warm!!

Nov 22, 2011

Apr 4, 2011

I've been kinda busy! REALLY!!! But I still don't know how February & March could have come and gone so fast.

My nephew was seriously hurt a couple of weeks ago and we've all been pretty worried on his outcome. He did have to have a finger amputated and will probably have some therapy for his hand. All of his other wounds seem to be healing OK so far. God had him in his prayers that evening.

On to some fun stuff!
I was in a Spring Swap with a few of the girls on the PrimPals forum. My partner was Casey at Olde Spoon River Homestead. I sent her these items.

I made the embroidered lavender sachet and the button sheep. While out on some of my antiquing excursions, I found a small red painted bowl, a soy candle, a rusty bell and the penny rug. She was very pleased with what I sent her, especially the penny rug.
This is what I recieved from here!

Isn't everything just adorable? I loved it all! I had to make myself a cup of the Vanilla Chai tea right away. It was yummy. I didn't have a lot of Spring decorations, so I put them on display right away too! Thank you Casey ! That was a fun swap!

Brenda over at Pine Tree Prims is swapping or selling some of her items and I asked to swap for the cutest little suitcase.

and I got an extra cute pincushion too.
I sent her a mustard & black tablemat that I made (I forgot to take a picture, darn). It was a lot of fun. I think she still has some more things that she would like to trade or sell. Go visit her blog and check them out.

I have been pretty busy these last few weeks. After everyone got over the nasty flu bug, I finished sewing the rest of the pinwheel blocks for Brenda's quilt. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to put them together.

I've also been doing some painting.
Tom & Bonnie's hutch came out really well. She was so anxious to get started on her decorating now that the walls, cupboards & hutch are finished. Everything looks just prim perfect.

Of coarse Jordan just had to be in the picture. She is our 'princess' after all.

My current projects, besides trying to get caught up on all the BOMs and finishing up Brenda's quilt are these:

Doesn't look like much yet, do they? These are the 2 barstools I want to paint for Bonnie and a small desk that I'm painting for Jordan. They're in the priming stage pictured there. Jordan is getting her bedroom redone and we have started redoing Kelly's room too. Jordon's Mom is repainting her room and she got some new white furniture too. Kelly's room is being rebuilt. We have torn out a wall between her room and another. Now her room will be twice as big. I've got lots of work ahead on that project.

I hope I can keep up a little better on my posts. I'll try! I promise!

Feb 12, 2011

Tonight is Friday Night SewIn and I had big plans a couple of days ago. Now I have a sinus cold and I'm finding it difficult to sew with watery eyes and a drippy nose. But I was determined to get something done! I wanted to work on the pinwheel quilt I'm making for my sister. So I got one of the blocks cut out and the four corner blocks sewn together. When I tried to get the pinwheel figured out it wouldn't go together right. I had sewed all four of the blocks with the orange & white fabrics in the wrong place. All of the seams had to be taken apart! Then when I sewed them back together again, I noticed that I had tore the orange fabric when I had ripped it apart on 1 of the blocks. Now I have to cut some more orange. Got them all sewed together again & was squaring them off to a 6" square and 1 of the blocks was too small! Dang, must've sewn my seam too big. Back to more ripping apart & I have to be careful this time cause I know I don't have any extra hummingbird fabric if I tear that fabric. (cough cough sneeze) Whew finally got it all sewed together! The points aren't coming together very well but I know Brenda won't care. TA DA Here it is!

Now I'm exhausted!! That's it for me tonight. I'm going to write this post yet tonight and schedule it for tomorrow cause I plan on sleeping in late. I'm going to go take some cold medicine and go to bed.
Nighty Night!

Feb 6, 2011

Well I'm going to tell you what I sent to Amy for our swap!
She let me know that she received my package and she liked it all.
I think she liked the crow & sunflower spring makedo the best. She collects crow (you would know that if you checked out her blog. LOL)

I also sent a prim ladybug for the doll we were supposed to include.

But MY favorite thing that I sent her was the candlestick.

But look!

I have another one that I can paint for myself!

I'm glad that she liked everything and it was a very fun swap. Now I need to get some Easter Eggs done for another swap! But first...

I have to show you what my youngest granddaughter has made on her new sewing machine.

She made a rag quilt tablemat for her Mom and a scarf for her friend at school. She was a really quick learner. My older granddaughter is learning to crochet. What is really funny is that Jordan (the youngest) was spending the night last weekend & during the night she was having a nightmare. She would keep screaming "NO NO". Finally I woke her up & asked her what was wrong. Her reply was " Gramma I was having a bad dream. I made a great big raggy quilt for the bed and when I was finished I found a mistake in the middle & I had to take it all apart". OH MY GOSH!! Now I'm giving my grandkids nightmares. Her Mom just fell on the floor laughing.
Speaking of raggy quilts...I don't think I showed you the quilt I finally finished a few weeks ago. Jordan's birthday quilt!

Grampy went outside today with Angie, Tammi and the grandkids & had some fun in the snow!

Do you see the tunnel they dug through the pile of snow?
They might be having a blast in this snow, but I'm longing for the hyacinths to be peeking out from under it.

Well I think I'm going to work on those Easter eggs while I watch the end of the football game! That's the only part I like (the end) LOL

Feb 5, 2011

My swap goodies are here!
I participated in a swap that Tammy of A Primitive Place had organized and my swap partner was Amy of At Home With Amy. BTW, if you haven't visited either of these ladies blogs than you are missing out. They are both great ladies.
My goodies could not have come at a better time!
I've been a little under the weather these last couple of days. You know, the sore throat , runny nose kinda thing. I laid down on the couch to get a little rest & must have fell asleep. Next thing I knew, our dog was jumping up at me and barking. She had to go potty, so I drug myself up and went to the door to let her out. When I opened the door there was a package on the step with my name in big bold letters. I grabbed the box and ALMOST skipped to the table to get something to open it with. I couldn't believe all the really nice things that she sent me. I would Ohh & Ahh each time I found something new to open. We were to send each other a doll and 2 other prim items. This is what I received....
Isn't it all just wonderful? I love the prairie doll that she got me and the towel & sign that she stenciled.
The stitchery that she made is just perfect for in my kitchen.
So are the melts and I was really hoping she would send some of her dried oranges.
Now check out this fabric box! Cool heh?
This all sure made my day!! Thanks Amy!
I had a lot of fun joining in on this swap. I will post a picture of what I sent her when I know that she has received it. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for her. {{Hope she likes everything}}

Feb 2, 2011

Angie is actually standing on the deck, there is a step down to where this snow is.

At least we can get out our back door now!
We are still under a #1 snow emergency. But we actually were pretty lucky!
Just an hour south of us is where they started getting the sleet & ice. Indianapolis got even more ice. There are a lot of power outages there.
I would rather have snow than ice!

Jan 23, 2011

Well let me show you!
Not only have I been keeping my sewing machine a humming.
See some of the quilt blocks I've done in the post below. But I've also been sewing on some things for a swap (that I can't show you just yet, sorry)
AND...
All last week we (Bonnie, Tammi, Tom & I) have been fixing up Tom & Bonnie's kitchen! They really liked the Kitchen hutch that I just painted for my kitchen and asked if I could do that to their hutch too and maybe their cupboards also. You could probably guess what I said. "SURE I can do all that". And so the kitchen redo began to happen!

Sorry I didn't get any BEFORE pictures, but we were so excited to get started that I forgot. The before cupboards were a very dark stained wood. We took all the doors off the cabinets and brought them to my house so we could work on them in my garage. The grandkids helped me with the sanding & the first coat of paint. Tammi came over to help with the sanding & painting too. In the meantime Bonnie & Tom stripped the wallpaper border and painted the walls a deep gold color. It turned out beautifully. Then I took the cupboard doors back to their house to finish up. It would be better for them to dry with the staining if they were already hung. Bonnie & Tom like the more primitive or rustic look so we roughed up the cupboards before we put the stain on. This is the finish that Tammi, Bonnie and I accomplished.
Click on any of the pictures to make bigger.

Here is the finished cupboards.

They are going to put wood floors in some day.
She is decorating her kitchen with roosters. Here is Kelly showing off some of Bonnie's decorating.

I We think it turned out perfect!
They brought the kitchen hutch to my house yesterday. Now I'm going to work on it with the same colors. This is what it looks like now...dust & all.
The top...

and the bottom...

Did you happen to notice the black barstools in the picture with Kelly? I would like to paint those to. With a mustard or black on the legs & a rooster on the seats. That will be a surprise for them.
Well that's why I haven't been posting as much as I would have liked to.

Jan 22, 2011

Last night was the Friday Night Sew-In for January. I actually got to get some sewing done last night! Last month I signed up but something came up & I didn't get anything done. It has been so cold outside these last couple of days that I was determined to stay inside where it was nice & warm.
I joined in on a couple of BOMs (block of the month) again this year and was already falling behind. Last night I got the fabrics out for the Layer Cake Quilt Along and started making some of the blocks. Before I knew it, I had four of the blocks finished! Now I'm only two blocks behind. I had to order some more fabric before I could make anymore. I'm making my quilt with some Halloween fabrics and I didn't have as many as I thought I did and they are hard to find in the stores this time of year LOL.
This is block # 1
I could not get my points to come out right. Good enough for me this time.
Block #2
This is my favorite so far.
Block #3
I'm going to embroider a spider & web in the corner of the handle on this basket.
Block #6

I also got the first block finished on the Birdie Stitches Quilt Along.
I'm doing all my embroideries in shades of red. Then I'm going to be using some beadwork & buttons.

You can find these Quilt Alongs on my sidebar if you would like to follow along too.

I was the big winner at the 'Be Mine Blog Tour'! WAHOO!!!!!!!!

I won a $100 gift certificate to use at The Fat Quarter Shop. Can you believe that? It took awhile for me to actually believe it. So today I went SHOPPING at their online shop. Goodness that was a chore (too many pretty fabrics to choose from) but sooooooo much fun! I'm getting a jelly roll for the postage stamp quilt, some Halloween fabrics for my Layer Cake Quilt, a layer cake of Dilly Dally for Kelly's birthday quilt and some fabrics that I really liked. Now I shouldn't have any excuse to not get things done.

Now I'm going to go check out what some of the others have been doing for the Friday Night Sew Along.

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Anne's giveaway

ends Feb.9

Isabel's Giveaway

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Sorry I couldn't get the pic to work. It's lovely & you should check it out at above link.
Ends Feb. 14